PAL eyes code share expansion deal with Garuda Indonesia

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Airlines Incorporated (PAL) plans to expand its code share agreement with Garuda Indonesia and other international airlines.

Under a code share agreement, two or more airlines share the same flight and they can publish and market the flight under their own airline designator and flight number.

PAL President Jaime Bautista said PAL is talking to Garuda for the possible expansion of their current code share agreement, which covers flights to Jakarta and Bali from Manila.

Garuda Indonesia has a fleet of 134 aircraft flying to 64 destinations while the PAL Group including low cost carrier PAL Express has 75 aircraft serving 67 international and domestic routes.

PAL has existing code share agreements with Etihad Airways in the Middle East; All Nippon Airways (ANA) in Japan; Westjet in Canada; Cebu Pacific in Hong Kong, Gulf Air in Bahrain, and Malaysia Airlines in Kuala Lumpur.

Chartered flights

Bautista added that PAL is also considering chartered flights to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to cater to passengers joining the Hajj annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

 “We’re still in talks,” he said.

The airline’s expanding code share arrangements is one of the factors that enabled PAL to return to black for 2014, following massive losses the previous years.

Bautista earlier said the airline hopes to stay profitable this year even in the face of strong competitio Rappler.com